And I'm sure I've made this point before, but why does anyone think leaving the country is a strong statement of opposition to a particular President? Only you are leaving the country. The country is stuck with this President you think is so terrible. Isn't your objection to what this person will do to the country as opposed to you personally? What is accomplished by your departure? It seems to me that you're only serving your own interest in escape from what you don't like to experience, but the experience of someone being the President is, for most of us, only reading and hearing about it, and the news will still reach you in Canada. It's just so self-involved and self-coddling and upper-middle-class entitled, but perhaps that's the character she plays on Twitter and it's supposed to sound lame and confused, like the character she plays on "Girls."

Trump's joking continued: "Now I have to get elected because I'll be doing a great service to our country. Now it's much more important. In fact, I'll immediately get off this call and start campaigning right now." Now, now, now.

Yeah, I'm not sure why you seem so certain that Lena's act on her show is much different from what she's like in real life. Her real life pronouncements are just as inane.

Though the "leave the country" thing on its face isn't that stupid--if you think you'll be worse off in a country run by a certain politician, it makes sense to go and be somewhere where you may have a better lot.

The issue is that all this "I'll leave the country" stuff is just ridiculous, and of course they never do it (though Alec Baldwin at least had the self-awareness to make fun of himself when he did that over Bush and of course did not leave). Why make such a dumb promise you won't keep?

And who says Canada wants her, anyway? I imagine a lot of Canadians are like "oh great, we got an influx of American whiners".

I may some day leave this country, but it won't be because of an election--it'll be for warm weather and a nice standard of living.

"...I believe she worked her heart out as Secretary of State to make up for it. [her Iraq war vote] ...Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone else who voted for that war did as much to promote peace and human rights around the world?"

All that peace. She worked so hard!Good gravy. Hillary flew around the globe in style at tax payer expense, living the grandiose life of a exalted and entitled celebrity. Understandable why so many celebrities relate to hillary.

"...I believe she worked her heart out as Secretary of State to make up for it. [her Iraq war vote] ...Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone else who voted for that war did as much to promote peace and human rights around the world?"

Oh good lord, this moron apparently isn't aware of Libya, Syria or Afghanistan and she's parading that ignorance front and center. At least have the small bit of decency to say "Hillary made a mistake and far as I am aware because I live in a cave she made no other mistakes". Geez!

The proper response to Lena's bleatings is always "who the hell are you, again?" Let's not elevate this person.

Well, that horse already left the barn, unfortunately - she's already elevated. We live in a celebrity-centric society, where businessmen, who hire people and create wealth, are not looked at as heroes as they should be, but lambasted by the media and entertainment complex instead. And the people eat this stuff up (just read an average Facebook feed for an example).

People are already listening to her, and without some kind of actual revolution, this stuff is only going to get worse.

Trump is probably right about the b-list. Her moment has come and gone. Not a moment really, more like a speed bump.

As for the Canada remark, what makes her think they want her? She should stick to things she knows something about, like molesting her sister, and leave politics to professional panderers and hucksters.

Of course it's puerile and pointless to pout and say you'll leave the country if a candidate you don't like gets elected. What's even more puerile and pointless is that Trump feels compelled to respond to a flippant comment made by a "B-Movie" actor. So much for acting Presidential.

Good on Trump to respond to this idiot threatening to leave the country. Trump knows how to get in the news cycle, and get people talking about him. Who on earth wouldn't want Dunham to leave the country.

Apart from the fact that it's a weird (oh! she might leave if we don't do what she wants! We should do what she wants so she doesn't leave!) and idle (these people virtually never actually leave) threat, it is the ultimate in selfishness. Rather than stay to fix what they see as broken in their country, they run away to some other country "more deserving" of them.

I find it impossible to see this threat as other than a plea for me to do the thing they profess to hate. We will be a better country for their absence. (Although in my case, since I did move to Canada for non-political reasons, I don't want them here. I like Canada and they will cheapen and debase it.)

Her piece in TIME is really embarrassing. She yammers on and on about Hillary supporting Reproductive Health Care, as if that isn't somehow covered under "Healthcare".

Lena says she is a sexual assault survivor which I think is in her book as kind of a drunken fooling around. Now she is a survivor. And she has a reproductive health issue, endometriosis, which is painful but people have a host of painful chronic health issues and they are called health issues.But no, Lena has to have bigger problems than other people.

"Though the "leave the country" thing on its face isn't that stupid--if you think you'll be worse off in a country run by a certain politician, it makes sense to go and be somewhere where you may have a better lot. "

She should try Sweden. I think the lefty hothouse flowers might get a big bad surprise if they ran away there now.

Agree about Edwin Booth. I don't think Wilkes was that well known. The Booth family was a bit like the Barrymores and JW was not John or Lionel. Or Ethel.

This has been her life’s work and she comes at it from every direction.

She fights for equal pay. She raises money for other women running for elected office. She stays current on prenatal-nutrition research. (Though when the time comes for me to have my baby, just let me eat in peace, O.K., Hillary?) She flies to countries where women are routinely denied basic freedoms — from China to Yemen to the Democratic Republic of Congo — and puts their leaders on blast. She coined the phrase “women’s rights are human rights,” for goodness sake!

In a million ways, for women and girls in every walk of life, Hillary does the damn thing.

Hillary put the leaders of Yemen and the Congo on blast, people. How outstanding is that?

"Name one celebrity who said they would leave the country if [fill in the blank] was elected and who then fulfilled that threat/promise."

I can think of a few who do move overseas (Paltrow, Depp) but no cases where they said it was due to an election.

"She should try Sweden. I think the lefty hothouse flowers might get a big bad surprise if they ran away there now."

That's the other thing--these countries aren't really the Lefty utopias they think they are. Sweden has moved away from socialism lately. Maybe she should try Venezuela. Her hard currency would be welcome there until she walks into a riot.

Here's another chapter in why Lena is a moron and her argument is brainless. A true lefty backs Sanders in this race--hands down. He's leftism in its distilled form, and I respect that for what it is--an honest defense of Fabian Socialism. The only reason for a leftist to back Hillary instead of Sanders is if they think he's too far left and she's more likely to get incremental leftist things done (and of course if her incompentence and crookedness are just something they're willing to live with in exchange for such incremental gains). She could have made that argument.

Instead, she rattles off such fantasyland crap that it only demonstrates she should never be allowed near a computer.

Please do move away, Lena. Please do it even if Hillary wins. We need less of you here.

I think there was a TV commercial where some guy on a car lot wanted to keep a married couple from purchasing the Volkswagen he wanted so he licked the door handle with his tongue before they could get to it. They were repulsed.

So, I guess America would be the car. Donald Trump would be the saliva. And Lena Dunham would be the married couple.

""...I believe she worked her heart out as Secretary of State to make up for it. [her Iraq war vote] ...Wouldn’t it be cool if everyone else who voted for that war did as much to promote peace and human rights around the world?"

What are the possibilities of creating a contract that would obligate these geniuses to actually leave if Trump leaves? With massive penalties for breach of contract, of course.

If such a contract could be created, and presented to these intellectual giants, I would hope they would sign it, and eagerly. Otherwise, it would indicate that they are hypocrites, perish the thought. As for consideration, I'm reasonably certain that if an online collection was taken, several thousand dollars per signer could be raised quite quickly.

"Lena leaving the US is actually a good reason to vote Trump. I might be coming around."

Except she's as likely to actually leave the country as wealthy leftist celebrities are to forego the tax cuts that Republicans pass that they say they "don't need."

"Promoting peace." Geez. Between Nobel Prizewinner Obama and Hillary, the only thing that qualifies as "promoting peace" was sticking to Bush's Iraq withdrawal timetable, meaning they accomplished as much for peace as a bowl of rocks would have in their position. Worse, they tried to extend that timetable, and did a fair amount of warmongering of their own since then.

Too bad Lena doesn't read the news. Even the pro-Obama press have reported this stuff.

I knew the Prof couldn't resist a Gotta Pee, Lil Lena post. Rare midday post at that. Of course she knew how giddy all of us would be about commenting.

No mention, by little Miss Fatty, about Hillary working hard at State to feather the nest of the Crime Foundation. No mention of deleting e-mails to cover it up. No mention of speeches to line her own pockets in anticipation of becoming Madame President. No mention of the sexual predator with the coattails. All those things obviously fall into the "mistakes" category.

Snark mentioned how bold and novel it is, this suggestion of escaping to Canada. According to our hostess, she is a creative genius. Running away from home is the best she can come up with? Maybe she can take some advise from Bozo and Dilbert and just turn on the mockery. She is good at being a smart ass!

Silver lining, it might be too cold in Canada for her to shed her ugly clothes.

She should definitely move to Vancouver, where the women seem to be totally yoga obsessed - while she's a NY 2.0/10.0 on the attractiveness scale, she's only be a Vancouver 0.5/10.0. That should be good for her ego. On the other hand, Canadian restaurants tend to serve much smaller portion sizes, so there may be some long-term benefit.

Of course, in her biography she did confess to perpetrating a sexual assault against her younger sister, so it's possible she would be denied entry into Canada.

It is just amazing to me, Tim, how invariably mistaken and wrong-headed is The Donald.

We can all agree that Lena Dunham is a silly waste of human space. Of worse. So why is Trump letting her troll him? Just the other day, Trump was wrapped up in a Twitter war with some unknown comedian and writer from Hollywood. Trump didn't distinguish himself in that; he never does.

These are the actions of someone whose reality is more closely linked with TMZ than the Wall Street Journal.

This is an important primary. A winnable fall. No time to waste the future on this Trumpster fire.

So when celebs threaten to go to Canada if a Republican wins POTUS is that their equivalent of "Going Galt"? Now if Bill Gates threatened to shut down Microsoft if Trump won, that would make me stand up and take notice.

What are you for Chuck? More immigration to suppress wages? America to compete with 3rd world wages by importing a third world workforce willing to work cheap and undercut those "loser" Trump voters? Losers get to vote in America, and they are generally angry.

Pierre Salinger, former press secretary to JFK, left the U.S. for France in 2000 after the election of George W. Bush. Four years later, he died in a French hospital after a surgery to implant a pacemaker.

From the Associated Press:Mrs. Salinger, spoke from Le Thon, near Avignon in the Provence region, where the couple moved four years ago to run a bed-and-breakfast inn.She said her husband decided to move to France because he was so deeply opposed to the presidency of George W. Bush.“He was very upset because he thought Bush was not fit to be president. He said he would leave if Bush became president and he did,” Mrs. Salinger said.He did the same in 1968 after the assassination of Robert Kennedy, she said. “He said, ‘They’re killing all the Kennedys, and he left,” she said.

Its funny how the left keeps coming up with better and better reasons to vote for Trump. "25% of Federal Workers pledge to quit if Trump elected" "Mexican labor leaders say millions of mexican workers will flee the U.S if Trump elected" And now this dog faced activist pledges she will leave too. They are really making me an offer I can't refuse at this point.

Ann Althouse said...but perhaps that's the character she plays on Twitter and it's supposed to sound lame and confused, like the character she plays on "Girls."

Now wait: you've told us repeatedly that Dunham's playing a character on the show and that character's traits are carefully chosen as (in part) a criticism of vapid liberal young people...but now you're saying that her personal persona (on Twitter) is in fact an act, and the act is to be similar to her character on her TV show?!?!

Maybe, instead, she really is that vapid, and maybe her characterization on the TV show is less self-aware/self-criticizing than you've argued?

Trump is at his best doing this kind of schtick. He's flat out funny. Obama is pretty good at snark humor, too. The difference is, Obama's is always a dollop in a froth of cool. Cool, cool, cool. That's Obama. Trump doesn't depend on cool signaling to get laughs. He just mocks.

Honestly, if you think about it, Trump calling Lena Dunham a "B-actor" is actually kind of generous.

Like, the "A-actors" would be the likes of Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron and even Melissa McCarthy. And then comes Anne Hathaway, Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Stone, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman and Emily Blunt... And I don't see how Lena Dunham- the star of an ensemble HBO series- is on the same list as them. Honestly, she's lucky if she's a C-actor (and this isn't meant to be mean to her, just to be honest and cruelly neutral about her place among female actors).

Trump is at his best doing this kind of schtick. He's flat out funny. Obama is pretty good at snark humor, too. The difference is, Obama's is always a dollop in a froth of cool. Cool, cool, cool. That's Obama. Trump doesn't depend on cool signaling to get laughs. He just mocks.

Unlike Obama, there's not too many out there pretending Trump is funnier than he really is.

Yesterday morning on the radio, someone pointed out that Trump is the most watchable Presidential candidate we have. He has his groupies who follow him around to watch his shows. Most candidates have their speeches, their presentations, down pretty cold, and it would be boring to watch them give the same speech time after time (which is one reason the reporters following the candidates tend to be so jaded). But, there is apparently something new in every Trump speech. And, yes, part of why they are entertaining is because he is so good at mocking pretty much anyone who goes against him.

I hope this election is decided by people who never heard of Lena Dunham. She's an acquired distaste. I wonder if Donald Trump has ever watched an episode of Girls. I'm pretty sure Bernie hasn't. Hillary might have.

And now this dog faced activist pledges she will leave too. They are really making me an offer I can't refuse at this point.

I know, right? Between this and the First Poodle promising that her Mom will repeal the Second Amendment, I may find myself on the Trump Train pretty soon. At this point I am resigned to voting for him in November (sorry Gary Johnson, you lost me during Stossel's debate), but I might actually have to support him or even donate to him!

Drago said...I see Chuck has extended his policy of protecting Hillary from criticism to protecting Dunham from criticism.

Just like any "life-long republican" would do.

Another in the weird series of complaints from Drago, that my criticism of Donald Trump, with no mention of Hillary Clinton, means that I am weak and unworthy of Republican status or some such thing. I need to attack Hillary more.

And no amount of my telling Drago that I don't support any Democrats will satisfy him. Nothing in my history would betray any support for Democrats, ever. But that won't do for a devoted Trumpkin.

Drago remains that perfectly illustrative example of the "Obama-Trump Dialectic" as the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal described at one of the earlier junctures in this campaign:http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-obama-trump-dialectic-1449621957

It did me no good with Drago today, to have referred to Lena Dunham as a "silly waste of human space." In Drago-world, that somehow counts as "protecting Dunham from criticism."

Chuck says he "doesn't support her" but he can't ever explain why. In novels you have "master characters" who drive the plot, and 2 dimensional characters who serve the plot, Chuck is one of those 2-D characters and we are expecting him, given his prolix nature, to round out a bit on his thoughts. We will wait in vain. It's not there. It's like arguing with a billboard.

Ann, did you see there's a decent online and linkable etymology site? Probably so, but I thought I would mention it to you. "Mojo" is in there: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=mojo

I'm amazed at the level of vanity, even from so-called actors. They actually think we will vote for someone else because we can't bear to be deprived of their presence? Please, they are trained monkeys. Shut up and sing.

Fen said... I'm amazed at the level of vanity, even from so-called actors. They actually think we will vote for someone else because we can't bear to be deprived of their presence? Please, they are trained monkeys. Shut up and sing.

4/27/16, 7:16 AM

In times past, actors were not permitted in polite company. It was understood by all that someone who lied and pretended for a living was not someone to admire.

Since I don't have HBO, I have no idea who Lena Dunham is, but she will have a hard time moving to Canada unless she has relatives there, is willing to invest around $3 million (Canadian, which is 75 cents US to the Dollar C), has a critical profession, is a political refugee, or a host of other requirements that she probably doesn't meet. Even then, by the time she gets a permanent resident's card, the US presidency may have changed mooting the reason for leaving in the first place.Every four years some group of people threaten to move to Canada and the Canadians are probably getting sick and tired of hearing about this. Canadians are moving to the US to get acting jobs, for goodness sake, so she will mostl likely not be welcomed there and they won't even let her in the country if she has any kind of criminal record or if a family member does.Personally, I'd threaten to move to Ireland. I think it sounds better and I wouldn't alarm my Canadian relatives.

That is the funny thing there - more likely than not, she probably did fabricate her own sexual assault, but then goes on and admitted that she sexually assaulted her younger sibling. Of course, that could have been fabricated too...

Still, she is an actress of sorts (and, yes, I used that term to poke the buttons of the feminists here), which means that she probably lives most of the time in some fantasy world, where make believe is more important than reality. Back in the day, actors seemed to be able to cast off their roles, and switch back to real life more easily than they do now. Many of the greatest ones never lost track of when they were acting and when they weren't. And, that to be great, they had to keep working on the craft. But, we are many decades beyond that for most actors today, who lose track of the reality that being a good actor doesn't mean that they are good people, or even smart ones.